Maybe midlife isn’t the beginning of the end. Maybe it’s the golden hour of our lives.
The golden hour is the time right before sunset when the sun is sinking low in the sky to rest after a whole day of blazin like a champion. During the golden hour, everybody and everything looks magically beautiful.
To me, this period when the sun is suspended just barely above the horizon, emitting a gentle warm glow is the most gorgeous time of the day. It makes me think of that famous quote by Alice Walker: “I think it pisses God off if you walk by the color purple in a field somewhere and don’t notice it. People think pleasing God is all God cares about. But any fool living in the world can see it always trying to please us back.”
This is how I feel about the golden hour.
The golden hour should be appreciated as often as possible. It’s so rich and yet money can’t buy it. Sure, I love to experience it from a boat or while dining al fresco and sipping fancy drinky-drinks but it’s just as wonderful from in the car on the road, smoking a joint on the deck, or just gazing out the living room window. It’s there for all of us.
I love it even more here in Tobago, where I live on the western part of the island so the sun sets in the sea, as opposed to rising in the east, where I’ve lived all my life before. Its colors are even enhanced in part by the Sahara sands that create an even more dazzling and vivid effect.
This time of day invites us to pause to admire it, be grateful to experience it and reflect on the fleeting nature of life. I feel my own spiritual significance to this time of day as a vivid reminder that change isn’t something to fear but to celebrate.
Some may see the golden hour as a symbol of ageing, or nearing the end of life. At a time when it seems like everybody is out here desperately trying to look younger than they are, it could be quite depressing. I don’t see it that way. I’m hopeful that I’ll have another 30+ years ahead of me to thrive and behold as much beauty as I can.
At this point in my life, at 56, mere months after a divorce, early retirement and my Blaxit, that magical golden light gives me a feeling of hope and a sneak peek into all the goodness that’s about to come, with new beginnings.
So, I’ve decided to intentionally pause and reflect, wherever I am on the most mundane and boring day of the week, Tuesdays. It might seem silly but I can’t think of a better example of everyday pleasure than my Tuesday Golden Hour. Maybe that’s exactly what this season of my life is inviting me to do.
For more of these Conversations, subscribe below.
